TMC, BJP, BJD delegations meet EC over alleged irregularities in electoral rolls

New Delhi: Delegations of the BJP, TMC and the BJD approached the Election Commission (EC) separately on Tuesday raising issues of discrepancies in the voter rolls and demanding that the poll panel take steps to rectify them.

While the BJP urged the EC to audit and revise the voter rolls in West Bengal, claiming that more than 13 lakh duplicate voters have been added to the list during the TMC rule, the latter alleged cloning of Aadhaar cards for fake voter registration.

The ruling party in West Bengal also demanded that the poll panel issue a separate list of voter deletions, new additions and modifications with every new revised electoral roll.

The Biju Janata Dal (BJD) suggested an independent audit of the poll process and monitoring by citizens in the wake of the allegations of irregularities levelled by the opposition parties.

The issue came into focus after the TMC, the Congress and other opposition parties raised it in both Houses of Parliament on Monday and demanded a discussion on it.

In separate posts on X, the EC said it welcomed the delegations of the BJP and the TMC.

"Updation of electoral roll is a participative process with all political parties, including established mechanisms of appeal under section 24 of the RPA (Representation of the People Act) 1950," it wrote on X after meeting the BJP delegation.

In another post on X, the poll panel said it apprised the TMC delegation that all concerns including duplicate EPIC numbers, duplicate, shifted and dead voters and illegal migrants will be resolved by each Booth Level Officer and concerned Electoral Registration Officer with active participation of Booth level Agents appointed by all political parties.

Amid allegations of fudging of electoral rolls, the Election Commission on Tuesday invited political parties for an interaction to strengthen the electoral process.

In a statement, the EC said it has invited suggestions from all national and state political parties by April 30 for "any unresolved issues" at the level of electoral registration officers, district election officers and chief electoral officers.

"Today, a delegation of BJP West Bengal met the Election Commission. We apprised (the EC) on the need for an audit and voter roll revision," BJP co-observer for the state Amit Malviya told reporters outside the poll panel’s headquarters here.

"We have apprised the Election Commission that there are 13,03,065 duplicate voters in West Bengal... We have also pointed out to the Election Commission that there are about 8,414 voters with similar EPIC numbers," he added.

BJP West Bengal unit delegation comprised its state president state president Sukanta Majumdar, also a Union minister Malviya alleged that over the last 14 years, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and her government have "systematically infiltrated" the voter rolls with illegal Bangladeshis and Rohingyas.

"We have impressed upon the Election Commission to look at the clearing of the voter rolls and identify these illegal voters so that our democratic process is not compromised," he said.

The TMC delegation met the EC raising the issue of duplicate voter ID numbers and alleged that Aadhaar cards were being cloned which may lead to the possibility of these being used for fake voter registration.

"This is an extremely serious issue. Ever since West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee flagged the issue, all parties have realised it's a serious issue that poses a threat to electoral democracy," TMC Rajya Sabha deputy leader Sagarika Ghose told reporters after the meeting.

"The EC says it will resolve the issue in three months... We are asking if you don't even know the number, how are you giving the deadline?" she said.

Amid allegations of a cover-up over duplicate voter identity card numbers, the Election Commission had on Friday said it will address the "decades-long" matter in the next three months.

In a four-page memorandum submitted to the poll panel, the TMC said EPIC numbers consist of an alphanumeric sequence of three letters known as the "Functional Unique Serial Number (FUSN)" which is different for every Assembly constituency in India, and seven digits, are supposed to be unique.

"How were EPICs with the same number issued to voters in multiple Assembly constituencies across various states in the country?" the TMC said.

It said similar concerns have been expressed over the recently concluded elections in Maharashtra and Delhi, where opposition parties have alleged discrepancies in the electoral rolls including the inclusion of disproportionate numbers of new voters through the online mechanism.

The memorandum said that field visits conducted across West Bengal reveal that there has been an addition of several fake voters to the electoral roll through the online portal, due to a lack of a proper verification system for uploaded documents particularly address proofs voters are being fraudulently registered.

It said there are cases of such "fake" voter registration applications being approved by electoral officials through their apps (BLOapp & ERONET).

In their memorandum to the EC, the BJD delegation suggested an independent audit of the poll process and monitoring by citizens in the wake of allegations of irregularities levelled by the opposition parties.

They said the EC should conduct a periodic "process audit" of the entire election exercise by independent auditors or the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) and make its report public as is being done in several countries where democratic elections are held.

They also urged the poll panel to develop a mechanism for involving citizen groups to co-monitor the election process from inception to the end, and to formulate a mechanism for conducting a concurrent audit during polling at the booth level as well as during counting to ensure trust in the election process.

The BJD, which suffered defeat in the last elections, also suggested tallying all VVPAT slips with the EVM count in every booth using advanced counting machines.